Ben Affleck’s ‘Live By Night’ gets an early Oscar kiss

Ben Affleck’s ‘Live By Night’ Gets Oscar-Friendly Release Date

The Oscar race has really been heating up over the last few months. Many films featured at the Toronto International Film Festival this year drew widespread acclaim upon their premieres, which is often the first step in getting some major awards attention down the road. And just recently Martin Scorsese’s Silence (a film that we still know almost nothing about) received a limited theatrical release for right around Christmastime. Besides the already well-known films hitting during that time like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Assassin’s Creed, and Passengers, another big film has just entered the mix.

Ben Affleck has already been busy prepping his fourth directorial, Live By Night, for awards season. The Prohibition Era crime drama recently was slated for a January 2017 release after having gone through a number of release date changes. Despite January being known as a notorious dumping ground for crappy films, if you’re able to score a release just after the beginning of the new year, you usually have a chance at still getting an opportunity for some Oscar nominations. Last year, Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Revenantstarted in a limited release in December, followed by wide run January. As many of you probably know, the epic survival drama then went on to receive three big Oscars. It should have won even more, but let’s not get into that right now.

All we’ve seen of Live By Night so far has been a one fantastic trailer that showcased the gorgeous recreation of the 1920s, not to mention the film’s richly dark story. Even though the Period drama’s former release date was perfect for becoming an Oscar contender, THR has announced that Live By Night will open in limited release on December 25, 2016, before going wide on January 13, 2017. While Warner Bros. is probably not expecting the film to make box office history with the new release slot, it’s basically a sure bet that we will still be talking about Live By Night all through awards season.

It’s always nice to see Affleck get a win like this because he really is a very talented artist that is able to perform well in a variety of areas. What’s interesting about him is that while he does give good performances most of the time, he’s usually best when he’s also behind-the-camera. That said, Live By Night could then easily become Affleck’s best directorial work, especially since it’s based off the bestselling novel by crime master Dennis Lehane.

The film tells the story of Joe Coughlin (Affleck) who is a smalltime thief that works his way up through the criminal underworld after moving from Boston to Florida. It may be a simple story at first glance, but it still should make for a fantastic film. Affleck has had a bit of a rough year so far after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice received extremely poor reception (which it didn’t deserve). Despite Affleck’s performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman being one of the film’s redeeming factors. it was clear that the actor was quite upset with just how much backlash the superhero epic received. Nevertheless, Warner Bros. seems to have faith that his Live By Night will make some awards-friendly waves this holiday season. Stay tuned as more information becomes available.

Live By Night opens in a limited release on December 25, 2016, then goes wide on January 13, 2017.

I am a Media Studies graduate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I have been writing about film for years now, ranging from news to screenplays. Some of my favorite films are The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Monsters, Inc. I am also a bit of a history buff, particularly with World War II.